Social Media - Let’s talk about your audience
Audience. Market. Public. Customer. Decision maker. Stakeholder. Friend. Colleague.
Depending on what your business or organization is focused on, the audience changes. If your business sells skincare products, who you are selling to is vastly different from a charity who supports seniors. Yes, there might be overlap between seniors and those buying skincare products.
How do you know who your audience is?
Who do you want to sell your products to? Who is your ideal customer? What information do you know about them? Have you constructed a marketing persona of your ideal customer? What do they look like? What education do they have? What would make their life easier? Do they have kids? Are they married?
This might sound confusing, but a discussion with a marketer or a social media manager can help you conduct market research. This market research will help narrow down your audience and advise you on next steps and where to invest your resources and time.
How do you know where to find your audience?
Social media is great for increasing awareness. But social media works best if you’re using a social media platform where your audience is.
What?
Sometimes it feels strange to hear. But you don’t need to join every social media platform. Pick the one(s) where your audience is. Each social media platform attracts a specific audience. Those who are on Pinterest might not be found on other social media platforms. Those on BlueSky, might not appear anywhere else.
I want to find my audience. How do I find them?
Facebook has 2.1 billion daily active users. 2.1 BILLION. With the world’s population residing more than 8 billion, more than a quarter visit Facebook each day. 31% of Facebook users are between the age of 25-34. Coming in second are 18-24 year olds (23%) and coming up in third place, 35-44 years account for 20% of Facebook’s audience. Older GenZ and younger Millennials are some of the biggest users. If you’re looking to connect with those 18-44 year olds, consider Facebook.
More than half of 55% of Facebook users are men, while 43% of Facebook users are women. Sadly Facebook only tracts male and female, leaving out nonbinary and those who do not specify a gender. If you’d like to dig into Facebook, consider using the source link from Hootsuite.
Source: Hootsuite 30 Facebook demographics
Like Facebook, Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users. After Facebook and YouTube, Instagram is the most popular social media platform. More than 83% of Instagram users are younger than 45. If you’re looking to connect with those under the age of 45, Instagram is a channel to explore.
The most interesting part of digging into demographic breakdowns is learning something new. Instagram has a 50-50 sex split. I had no idea it was that close.
If you’d like to explore Instagram’s demographics, consider checking out Hootsuite’s blog on Instagram Demographics.
Linkedin is a slightly different kettle of fish. More than 56% of LinkedIn users are male. Of worldwide users, 47% of users are 25-34 years old. The second most popular age group is 18-24, followed by those aged 35-54. This holds true as this professional social media platform is traditionally used by those who are professionals or job seeking.
To learn more about LinkedIn’s demographics, explore Hootsuite’s blog on LinkedIn Demographics.
Bluesky
Currently there are more than 33 million active users on Bluesky. One third of these users are aged 18-24. Twenty-seven percent of Bluesky users are 25-34 years old. More than 60 percent of the platform’s users are under the age of 35, making it an excellent marketing channel if you are looking to connect with youth. More than 60 percent of users are male.
To learn more about Bluesky’s demographics, explore Exploding Topics.
TikTok
With video being the most popular content type, TikTok does extremely well using the short-form video as their primary medium. Experts estimate that there are 750 million monthly users. A quarter of their users are under the age of 25, making it a prime target for companies and organizations targeting youth. Just over half the users are male. Most importantly, more than 62 percent of users visited this platform using a mobile device.
To learn more about TikTok’s demographics, explore Exploding Topics.
Pro Tip
Honestly time. Depending on your industry, market research can be expensive. But it will save you time and resources down the road. Knowing who your target audience is will provide a way forward and recommendations on where to best invest your resources. Knowing how to reach your audience is vitally important to the success of your business or organization.